I Am Undone
My Epic
(Indie/Experimental/Dynamic/Worship/Prayerful)
Everything about this album makes my heart move. This is another album meant to be a whole rather than individual parts.
Track one is a prologue to the rest of the album. Soft strings and a rhodes carries on a simple pad while the band recites, "May it be the real I who speaks, May it be the real Thou that I speak to," from C.S. Lewis. It sets the stage and the mood as something mature, deeply personal, and with complete reverence to the Father.
"The Oil Press" connects the prologue to the "meat" of the album. Lead singer Aaron Stone sings "Where else would I go, with every mercy you have shown? I'm fearing this harvest I have sown. And my time is so short, so please make it yours."
"Lest We Die" speaks of every man's battle with with himself. The ending swells with "I did not pour out these tides or tell these planets to align. My breath could never give new life, so why am I so full of pride!" into a soaring instrumental climax.
"The Lover And The Thief" seems to be dedicated to a lost loved one. An emotional, pulsing rhythm tells of a boy's pain with losing someone he loved. The chorus comes in with a beautiful, heartbreaking atmospheric choir and he questions God's reasoning behind it all, "I don't think you're aware just how much this damages my faith." The second half of the song is the Father's glorious response. "I'm wrecking you to help you see: you're not who you should be ... She followed me, that's why you weep. It's me you need!"
"Perelandra" is an instrumental track that seems to be a continuation of the prior track, allowing you to contemplate on God. Bits of this track are used in 3 other tracks later on in the album, making this the "binding."
"You Know We All Love you" starts off heavy. "You'll paint this town black with the laws that you craft. Then turn it all red with the fires they set," speaking of His judgement to awful sinners. Then the chorus only happens once with a powerful message, "The fire's in your house! There's no time left to sort this out. All of us are guilty men, there is no line between us and them," speaking that we are all just as guilty. The heavy instrumental section repeats and ushers in a hard and sharp, "Fear! Fear and trembling, brothers!"
"Our Little Girl" is a complicated track. The CD booklet says it is based on a short story called "The Painting." My interpritation points to guilty burden of rushed infatuation, perhaps a man cheating on his wife and later trying to tell her. The song speaks of a fruit that's so tempting "it just wants to let go," but "it swells with a poison that used to be love." Then perhaps these lyrics describe the actions of lust "small betrayals and these orphaned deeds unattached to love." Then the consequence, "This will destroy you and I will stand like a stranger." The most poignant line in the song is: "so I lay in this bed beside your body, but miles of words and deeds lie in between. And should we brave that space to find each other, We'd have to meet the ghosts of our conceit." The song ends with a crashing breakdown, perhaps signifying that very burden.
"Men In Little Houses" is my favorite track. The song starts of heavy. The lyrics point to the ignorance of men at first, "modern man is so adept at skimming past the ocean's depths." Then my favorite riff in the whole album comes in with, "We can't feel the spinning underneath. This globe rotates and no one perceives." Then the best lines come in, "this is where we lie, someplace between the matter and the mystified ... what if all our lives are founded in the moments that escape our eyes? We are so small!"
"Communion" relates the relationship between men and God to lovers. A peaceful verse brings in a definate chorus, "I'm told that You hold all things, and without you that I'd cease to be." Afterwards, very beautiful lines bring in the title phrase of the album: "A cup, a candle, and this bread, a table for rememberence. The quiet awe of penitence, the still refrain of broken men." The music starts to pick up and then, "In this moment weakness speaks, I feel the weight of my being. For the moment you release the particles in everything. I am undone." This song makes me think of brokeness, and afterward having communion or meeting with Christ as he completely undoes you.
"You Became I" tells of man's drifting from God to other masters and idols. "I've been shifting my affection to whatever love may call my name." The chorus brings in, "All creation waits, aching for the day. There is no escape from what the author fates." The end starts to bring in some hope, "We've been living in shadows, soon exposed to the light..." Then after the song has seemed to have ended, a little voice brings, "fault will find us all in guilty lives, only mercy can a hope provide." He continues very softly with "return, repent before deep heaven falls upon our heads." Then a crashing riff comes in and repeats, representing the end.
Track 11 is untitled and simply labled "-". This is the most worshipful song on the album. A simple guitar line cradles words of humility and complete submission to the Father, "My God, I am not, but you are." The song ends powerfully with the same lines, giving God all of the glory.
Album lyrics at Bands on Fire.
Listen to the whole album on Myspace.
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